Every adult webmaster,
at some point in time, has run themselves into circles trying to find
good sources of adult traffic. Many have emptied their bankrolls hoping
that a financial investment will provide long-term returns of steady profit.
Abandoned adult sites, once begun with enthusiasm, end up as promotional
domains for affiliate programs, or a means to push traffic for any kind
of profit.
Where do webmasters
turn? How do you test a product, idea, or market before investing time,
talent, and money on a potentially profit generating idea? Unlike Internet
marketing for online businesses, adult site marketing is a numbers game.
Surfers are twice as active with actual buyers representing a small percentage
of the traffic, keeping hit to sign-up ratios low. The reality is, you
need three times the amount of traffic to turn a profit - so where do
you start?
Search Engine Marketing
was the first pioneer and best source for clean xxx traffic. The truth
today is, with the saturation of adult sites and pages in the engines,
high ranking for top keywords becomes more time consuming and expensive
than the actual return. Many search engine spam techniques which are necessary
for maximum gains often backfire when detected by the engines, resulting
in a ban of the domain. This short-term marketing effort typically does
not stand the test of time and more often than not results in an initial
return of profits with nowhere to turn. Methods of search engine spamming
may include using a large number of "promotional domain names"
and filling them with doorway pages for individual keyword ranking. "Spoofing",
"Cloaking", or "Bridging" is a way to detect a search
engine spider by IP address and serving it a dynamically generated page
designed to rank for that particular engine. This may work for a while,
but it’s not a long-term and profitable means of driving traffic.
Once these methods are detected by the search engine, you can try redirecting
the pages, but ultimately the game is over.
WHAT WORKS?
As a search engine marketer for 4 years for a wide range of web site types,
I have always preferred a straightforward marketing method. Once your
site is complete, choose a NICHE of keywords related to your sites content
and try to optimize the front pages of your site for those words. By creating
up to 30 "doorways" for your adult site that all look somewhat
different, with different keyword content, you create more "virtual
real estate" and means of people finding your site with the legal
disclaimer. Certain rules to follow when submitting to major search engines
are:
1) No more than 2
pages per domain per day (One with www, one without);
2) No more than 30
doorway pages per domain name;
3) If you use sub
domains for promotion, make sure they are individually assigned to a different
IP address;
4) Try to make each
doorway page look somewhat different than the others. Search engines use
different algorithms for ranking pages and what works today may not work
next month. By creating a variety of pages and keyword densities, you
increase your odds of ranking high somewhere all the time;
5) NEVER AUTO SUBMIT
to the major search engines (Excite, Google, MSN, Hotbot, Lycos, Fast,
Northern Light, Altavista, etc.) When you automatically submit your URLs
from a web page or software, your submission is oftentimes routed through
a server IP. When 200,000 submissions come from one IP, the engine tends
to ignore it. Taking the extra time to do it manually results in better
odds of getting indexed and less SPAM email.
Next, you should begin
submitting your site to adult search engines and link directories. AdultChamber.com
has a huge list of adult search engines and direct links to the submit
URL pages. This resource can save you time searching for sites to submit
to and often will result in getting traffic to your site almost immediately.
Create a links page or area to trade links; this is your biggest ally.
The adult webmaster community is strong and by respecting the rules and
working with other sites, creating mutually beneficial relationships become
an enjoyable part of marketing your site.
Many adult webmasters
feel that TGP's and Pic Post's are a good way to get potential buyers
to preview their content free and get to their site. Before you begin
creating thumbnail gallery pages, be aware that being unorganized can
result in high bandwidth costs. Be sure to manage your pic pages, file
sizes, and replace or remove expired pages. You can find places to submit
to various Thumbnail Gallery Posts via AdultChamber.com's TGP
Tools area. Another very new no-cost way of marketing via pic posts
is the picture rating system setup at RateXPics.com.
Webmasters can post pictures in various categories and fully manage, rotate,
remove, and see the rating and traffic on each pic. All pictures link
directly to the site of origin and webmasters can see what the surfers
think of their content. This is useful in deciding what pics are most
pleasing and what to use for both site promotions and home page displays.
Without a doubt, the
adult webmaster community is tightly knit and always looking for innovative
ways to drive traffic and make money with their sites. Depending on your
target audience, different marketing tactics may work for you. Ultimately
the way you market your adult site reflects the way you do business, so
respect the rules of others and don't be afraid to ask for advice. Use
Webmaster Resource Centers, support sponsors, stay involved, and aim to
please!
